Local street signs are among the San Diego touches aboard the amphibious transport dock ship San Diego, which named its enlisted chow hall the Gaslamp Cafe. The ship also sports logos of the Chargers and Padres. John Gastaldo • U-T

+Read Caption

Local street signs are among the San Diego touches aboard the amphibious transport dock ship San Diego, which named its enlisted chow hall the Gaslamp Cafe. The ship also sports logos of the Chargers and Padres. John Gastaldo • U-T

The Navy named a $1.3 billion warship for the city and stationed it in San Diego Bay, the first city-named ship to be assigned to its namesake town.

According to unofficial Navy tradition, a ship named for a place carries local memorabilia.

It’s not the Navy’s job to provide it. The task falls to the citizenry. And the clock is ticking on the debut. The San Diego, a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship, is scheduled to be commissioned May 19 at the downtown Navy Pier.

The competition sits in plain sight. The Green Bay, a sister amphibious ship, enjoys some fame around the waterfront for its abundant sports memorabilia.

The Green Bay Packers football team adopted the ship, allowing it to use the Packers “G” logo on board.

The ship’s helicopters sport the green G on their sides. On the bow, two giant G’s festoon the capstans, which pull up the anchors.

When the Packers won the 2011 NFL title, the ship flew a team-signed Super Bowl flag on the front mast. One former skipper, a Wisconsin native, ordered Green Bay games to be shown in the hangar bay.

The 360 sailors on the San Diego crew don’t want to be outdone by a town of 100,000 people on the frigid edge of Lake Michigan.

“They have a lot of stuff. I guess the city of Green Bay really did a tremendous job on that ship,” said Sr. Chief Klaus Moser, a San Diego crewman who graduated from Chula Vista’s Castle Park High School.

“But I want to be better than Green Bay.”

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders feels it, the stir of competition.

When he thinks of San Diego style, he thinks: SeaWorld. San Diego Zoo. Rubio’s fish tacos. He thinks Chargers lightning bolts, Padres gear and Aztecs paraphernalia.

“I’d tell San Diegans that, No. 1, we’re a Navy city and we’re proud to be a Navy city,” Sanders said. “We’d love people to come forward as quickly as possible, with as many items as they can, so we can sift through them and outfit the ship so everybody in San Diego can be proud.”

The job of shepherding the memorabilia goes to the ship’s commissioning committee, a citizens group tied to the Navy League.

That committee also raises money to pay for the commissioning ceremony and to buy gifts for the crew, such as onboard workout equipment and ship ball caps. The group has raised just over $100,000, with a goal of $150,000, a spokesman said last week.

Aside from money, movement on San Diego mementos has been slow. A tour of what’s already on board is a short one.

Street signs donated by city government are tacked up in passageways and chow halls. Balboa Avenue. Mission Bay Drive. The Padres’ SD logo dots the ship, hanging on doors and even marking parking spaces on the ship’s pier. The Chargers’ bolt is painted on the floor in one major thoroughfare.

Perhaps the best detail so far: The enlisted chow hall is called the Gaslamp Cafe, with the city skyline incorporated in the logo.

These touches mean something to sailors.

“It reminds you of home, that’s for sure,” said Lt. Cmdr. Wes House, the ship’s executive officer. “The skyline is a big deal to us. When we saw the Coronado Bridge and the city skyline the first time, we were pretty happy.”

Large U.S. warships, such as aircraft carriers, have mini-museums dedicated to their namesakes, who are usually presidents or senators. The carrier Ronald Reagan’s museum holds a piece of the Berlin Wall.

Amphibious ships named for famous Marine Corps battles often mount historical artifacts. The San Diego-based Makin Island holds a tribute to the Makin Island Raiders, a victorious Marine unit from World War II.

The San Diego’s commissioning committee has plans for more items. On the solemn side, the ship intends to honor a Camp Pendleton infantry Marine killed in action in Afghanistan in 2010. A portrait or uniform from 1st Lt. William J. Donnelly IV, a 27-year-old officer from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, is expected to hang on one wall.

This is the fourth ship to be named for San Diego, and the crew of the current one intends to reclaim pieces of its predecessors.

The bell from the World War II-era San Diego, a light cruiser, resides at the Admiral Kidd Club on Point Loma Naval Base. The silver service — cups, teapot and the like — from the Cold War-era San Diego, a combat stores ship decommissioned in 1993, is aboard the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln.

Commissioning committee spokesman Jack Harkins said there’s also a place for things that represent the cultural sweep of San Diego, from the La Jolla hills to the Tijuana border.

“It’s a melting pot. We’ve got lots of cultures that can be expressed here, certainly the Hispanic influence is rich and I think that’s a great opportunity for fine contributions to emerge,” Harkins said.

The San Diego’s skipper said there’s something that the Chargers should know about Navy ships and their namesake cities.

“When the USS New Orleans came around to San Diego the year she was commissioned, the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl. When USS Green Bay came around and arrived in San Diego, the Packers won the Super Bowl,” said Cmdr. Kevin Meyers, a Mira Mesa resident for the past 12 years.

Now, the San Diego has arrived.

“Hopefully, that gets back to the Chargers, and they are on notice,” Meyers said. “The Navy has done its job. We’re looking for the three-peat.”